Norfolk could raise hurdle for citizen petitions

NORFOLK

Several local civic activists said they oppose a proposal city officials will likely approve today that would make it more difficult for residents to challenge council decisions.

The resolution, which will be discussed by the City Council at 2:30 p.m. at City Hall, asks the General Assembly to approve an increase in the number of signatures required for a petition initiative from 4,000 to 8,000.

It also calls for changing the city's recall election procedures.

If the proposed rules were in effect in recent years, the successful Bay Oaks Park and Highland Park petition drives would have fallen short. Both petition drives garnered more than 5,000 signatures in an attempt to force the council to change its mind on development decisions.

In both cases the council voted to reverse its previous zoning decisions before any referendums were held.

"The City Council doesn't want anyone challenging their authority," said Bill Kerry, who headed the Bay Oaks Park Committee petition drive several years ago.

That group gathered 5,396 signatures over city plans to develop 21 vacant acres in East Ocean View into housing. In the end, the city compromised and added park space to its plans.

Earlier this year, a group in the Highland Park neighborhood gathered enough signatures to convince the council to reverse its opinion on whether to allow a new apartment building there.

"I think they're doing this because they saw what citizens can do, and they don't want it to happen again," said Dale Ryder, who heads the Highland Park Civic League.

The ordinance, if approved by the General Assembly, would also abolish a provision in the city code that allows voters to recall council members. Instead, the city would follow state recall procedures as most Virginia cities do.

Portsmouth, Hampton and Lynchburg are the only other Virginia localities with recall provisions that allow council members who do not break the law to be recalled.

Both Norfolk's and the state's provisions allow residents to challenge a sitting council member by gathering signatures on a petition. However, under the city code, the petition leads to a recall election. If proposed changes are approved, Norfolk residents could use the petition drive only to ask a Circuit Court judge to remove a council member solely for malfeasance. There would be no recall election.

Councilman Barclay C. Winn said the council has yet to discuss the proposed changes at length and probably will do so today.

"We could make changes," he said. "I'm for increasing the number of signatures required on a recall but not for throwing it out altogether."

Councilman W. Randy Wright suggested doubling the number of signatures for petition initiatives at a council meeting more than a month ago.

Wright said he is a fan of petition initiatives, noting that he began his political career three decades ago by mounting petition drives to lower real estate taxes and to halt construction of a mega-church in the Roose-velt Gardens area.

He said he gathered 40,000 on two petitions on the real estate tax issue and had more than 14,000 on the church issue.

"I'm all for referendums," he said. "But the number of signatures now is too low."

Kerry disagreed, saying: "It's very difficult to go out and gather 4,000 signatures. They want to put it out of our reach. They don't want anyone challenging them."

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com